St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-03-19

own and taking that bcIon:@-::s,--. t.-.,..
neighborS, and q few taking !, fl c,.:'j.
own and that of their nci@hpor.. ':'nt
scene is described by those who Wit
messed it az something never 70 be for
gotten!
On the forenoon of the 9th of Novem-
Der. the deputy commissioner with his
party, which had now been augmented
by the arrival Of the superintendent
of police of the Balaghat district, ar
rived at a place called kosmara,
where the elephant had been
last seen. They were now hot
on his track, and the chase became ex.
| citing 1t WAS decided that their best
plan was to surprise the animal at mid
day, when he would be either asleep or
in the water. They halted outside the
jungle, and di>mounling, sent back all
the s1lpcrtluous men, keeping only
their spare qua carriers. the party OF
Bygas, two mon armed with police
| muskets, two men leading five dogs and
Il she elephant belonging to the Zemln-
dar Oandholder) OF Hatta. Then they
moved off in perfect silence, two of the
Bygas following up the trail in front.
while the remainder stayed with the
main body, and expecting every mo-
ment to hear the "tl.umpet'' of the
savage beast and the crash OF his I'M
Wicldy bulk through the brushwood.
After they had proceeded for about q
mile in this fashion, the Bygas in front
suddenly stopped short on the bank of
Il dry stream, and pointing to the front
with their spears, exclaimed in whis-
per: There he isl And there he was
sure enough, lying at Il distance of
about thirty-fve yards in front
of them, asleep in the long
grass, over which they could see
the immense arch of his left ribs and
a small portion of the spine. Not be-
| ing able to get a good shot from where
they stood, they moved few PAGES to
their left. The slight noise made in
doing so aroused the animal, and he
raised himself, as if to listen, showing
above the grass the top of his head as
far as the ear and just above the eye.
They Immediately raised their rifles
and fired, and the creature disappeared
for second, but was seen the next
moment, and saluted with another shot
as he went up the opposite bank Of the
nullah. He then disappeared in the
jungle, but was found two hundred
yards further on, standing under a
nohaCG tree. Two more shots started
him off again, and there was hot chase
after him for about fifteen hundred
yards, brisk independent fire be-
ing opened upon him whenever he
showed himself. At last, just as
the elephant turned half round, expos
ing the whole of his right side. Two
shots were Immediately fired into his
right ear; and with a shrill trumpet,
the huge beast fell, burying his right
tusk deep into the EARTH while at the
same moment the Bygas rushed forward
with yell of triumph and hurled their
spears into the carcass!
He was found to be full-crown
male, measuring twenty-six feet from
the tip of his trunk to the end of his
tail. His height was nine feet five
inches; and length of tusks, two feet
five inches. He was in splendid condi-
ton, being covered with a thick layer
of fat. His skin had been perforated
by six bullets.
So ended the career of this extraor-
dinarily bloodthirsty animal. He had
killed in all forty-one persons-twenty
in the Balaghat district-and wounded
several. So great was the fear he in
spired, that whole families became ac-
customed to pass the night on platforms
erected on high trees rather than in
their huts. Balaghat is still very wild
district, and men-eating tigers are not
unfrequently to be met with there; but
snch intense and widespread terror has
perhaps never been felt before or since
the time of the notorious "man-eating"
elephant of Mundla. Chambers Jour-
nal.